Gold prices rebounded in their start to the new trading week on Monday after closing below $1,200 an ounce on Friday for the first time this year.
Gold for December delivery tacked on $14.40, or 1.2%, to settle at $1,207.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Advances were attributed to bargain hunting and a weaker U.S. dollar.
"Gold’s drop below $1,200 an ounce is sparking some more physical buying, especially from (Asia)," Reuters quoted Edmund Moy, chief strategist for California-based Fortress Gold, a provider of bullion-backed retirement accounts.
Gold prices ranged from a low of $1,183.30 to a high of $1,209.90. Last week the precious metal fell 1.5%. Its biggest decline was on Friday at $22.20, or 1.8%.
Silver for December delivery surged 40 cents, or 2.4%, to settle at $17.23 an ounce. Silver traded between $16.60 and $17.34. Prices fell 1.4% last week.
In PGM futures on Monday:
-
January platinum gained $22.30, or 1.8%, to $1,249.20 an ounce, ranging from $1,186.50 to $1,249.60.
- Palladium for December delivery added $11.55, or 1.5%, to $766.10 an ounce, trading between $735 and $767.55.
Last week platinum declined 5.7% and palladium fell 2.7%.
London Fix Precious Metals
Earlier fixed London precious metals were mixed. In contrasting the London bullion Fix prices and the LBMA Silver Price from Monday PM to Tuesday PM:
- Gold inched up 75 cents to $1,195.75 an ounce,
- Silver added 5 cents, or 0.3%, to $17.02,
- Platinum declined $20, or 1.6%, to $1,229 an ounce, and
- Palladium fell $7, or 0.9%, to $756 an ounce
London precious metals last week declined by 1.8% for gold, 0.8% for silver, 3.9% for platinum and 1.5% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in October
United States Mint bullion coin sales rose Monday, extending exceptional gains from each of the prior three weeks.
Increases included 19,500 ounces in gold coins — already more than all last week, and 125,000 ounces in silver coins. The latter came all from Silver Eagles. The bullion silver coins hurdled 34 million for the year, the second quickest pace in the coin’s 29-year history. Silver Eagle sales in record year 2013 reached 36.2 million through the same time last year. Last week the coins jumped over 2.7 million for the biggest weekly total since the 2014-dated versions launched in mid-January.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold last week, last month, in early October, and the year to date.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday Sales | Last Week | September Sales | October Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $100 American Platinum Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 2,500 | 2,700 | 400 | 16,700 |
| $50 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 12,000 | 10,000 | 50,500 | 16,000 | 312,000 |
| $25 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 1,000 | 1,000 | 6,000 | 2,000 | 34,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 2,000 | 0 | 8,000 | 2,000 | 94,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 10,000 | 30,000 | 5,000 | 445,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Bullion Gold Coins | 4,500 | 4,000 | 14,500 | 7,000 | 146,500 |
| $1 American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins | 125,000 | 2,740,000 | 4,140,000 | 1,775,000 | 34,026,000 |
| Great Smoky Mountains National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 1,500 | 3,500 | 0 | 33,000 |
| Shenandoah National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 21,500 |
| Arches National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 800 | 0 | 22,000 |
| Great Sand Dunes 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 800 | 4,500 | 500 | 12,500 |
Still need to make 50c JFK P and D pieces available to the public!!